EDITOR’S NOTES
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. -Henry David Thoreau
Where Dreams May Lead
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othing speaks so simply, yet powerfully to the potency of a dream quite like Langston Hughes’ “A Raisin in the Sun.” In it, the explosion that happens should a dream be deferred gives us a reasonable understanding of what happens should it be realized: an equally powerful force of new ideals, new results, a new world. Dreams are not for the faint of heart or weak of character. Dreamers don’t end up being our heroes and legends necessarily because of their visions, but because of the conviction and courage, fortitude and faith required to actualize them. As you read about the dreamers featured throughout this commemorative issue of Morehouse Magazine, know that it is the path that takes them from dream to reality that will earn them a page in the annals of history. The actual dream is nothing more than a starting bell signaling the beginning of a rugged and rigorous, but utterly rewarding journey. For John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79, that bell rang when he was a student here and dreamed of a better Morehouse College. His three-decade path has winded through the halls of some of the nation’s greatest learning institutions, crossed the highest house in the land, and now has circled back to this ’House—where his dream, administrative and fund-raising experience, and his new presidency have converged at a riveting intersection. This issue commemorates Dr. Wilson’s inauguration as the 11th president of Morehouse and his vision of “The World of Our Dreams” (see page 28). Which brings me to another big point about dreamers. Actually, it’s that little word “our.” Real dreamers have panoramic and inclusive, rather than myopic and individualized vision. They work for the common—better yet, greater—good rather than the rich or pandering minority, or even the status quo.
COMMEMORATIVE INAUGURATION ISSUE 2014
MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE
John Silvanus Wilson Jr. ’79 President Garikai Campbell Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs John P. Brown ’72 Interim Vice President for Institutional Advancement Toni O’Neal Mosley Executive Editor and Director of Public Relations Vickie G. Hampton Editor Add Seymour Jr. Communications Writer STAFF In the News Administrative Assistant Web Services CONTRIBUTORS Writer Photographers Graphic Design
Elise Durham Minnie Jackson Kara Walker Kai Jackson Issa David Collins Wilford Harewood Taun Henderson Philip McCollum Add Seymour Jr. Ron Witherspoon Glennon Design Group
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Morehouse has been and continues to be a dream-incubator for this type of dreamer—from the late R. Roosevelt Thomas Jr. ’66, who envisioned more effective work places for everyone when he was the first to expand the definition of diversity in Corporate America (see page 49), to Louis Sullivan ’54, who writes about how he started from a small town in Georgia and ended up in the nation’s capital as the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in Breaking Ground: My Life in Medicine (see page 18).
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So, wherever you are on your journey, keep dreaming.
Morehouse College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Atlanta University Center consortium of four schools. Morehouse does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, handicap, or national or ethnic origin in the recruitment and admission of its students, in the administration of its educational policies and programs, or in its staff, as specified by federal laws and regulations.
Sincerely,
Vickie Griffin Hampton Editor
CHANGE OF ADDRESS AND CLASS NOTES: http://giving.morehouse.edu/NetCommunity
COMMEMORATIVE INAUGURATION ISSUE 2014
5 MOREHOUSE MAGAZINE